


Some Days

by Dazzledfirestar



Series: Family Men [1]
Category: Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha Phil, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Biting, Canon-Typical Violence, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Kid Fic, Knotting, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mildly Dubious Consent, Omega Nick, no actual pregnancy shown in this fic.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-21
Updated: 2014-06-21
Packaged: 2018-02-05 14:14:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1821382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dazzledfirestar/pseuds/Dazzledfirestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People say sex doesn't have to change a friendship. People say that you can just help each other out now and then when nature requires that kind of thing. Marcus is convinced that those people are idiots but he's willing to give it a shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Days

**Author's Note:**

> I figured I'd give this whole A/B/O thing a shot and what better time to do it than SHIELD Daddies day over on Tumblr. LOL I stuck as close to the events in Battle Scars as I could given the differences but the Fear happens (and messes with suppressants so... you know how that's going to go) and the whole thing with Orion is in here too.
> 
> A few notes, I had this idea that people would want to use their instincts in ways that don't usually get used in A/B/O stuff so Omegas are encouraged into law enforcement and military jobs (that whole Mama Bear thing) until they decide to settle down and breed. Hence, Marcus being in the position he finds himself in here; not entirely closetted as an omega but not out and proud either. The verse will be a blend between the MCU and the 616. I'm using Battle Scars as the backstory stuff obviously. lol
> 
> Anyway, this will probably end up as the beginning of a series tracking these two through their SHIELD life and their personal lives so... we'll see how that goes. :) Enjoy!

It was standard procedure. Always had been in the military since someone decided to cook up suppressants in the first place. And he was so damn thankful for that at first. Until the medic mentioned that he’d have to go through a regular cycle and asked if he had a partner or a friend that might be willing to ‘help him out’. He’d said he’d figure something out and Christ no, the medic didn’t have to call in a safe alpha. That was the last possible thing Marcus wanted to deal with. 

Which was how he ended up in the mess hall, sitting across from his best friend, ignoring his food and trying to come up with a smooth way to ask him ‘hey, want to go off base for a couple days and fuck me senseless?’

“You’ve got leave this weekend right?”

Marcus nodded. “Yeah.”

“Any plans?” Cheese smiled and shoveled a mouthful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. “Hot date?”

Marcus laughed. “I wish.”

“Dry spell?”

“Something like that.” He sighed and shook his head. “Apparently medical is concerned I haven’t been following a certain routine as closely as I should.”

“They want you off the suppressants, huh?” Cheese smiled. “Yeah, they gave me the same talk.” He took another bite of his lunch. 

Marcus couldn’t quite stop his eyebrow from creeping up. “Really?” He’d never asked what Cheese’s status was. He’d never told him his. It didn’t come up and it seemed like something they probably should have talked about before but until that moment, it hadn’t seemed important.

“Yeah. ‘You can’t just stay on this stuff forever, Coulson.’” He did a passable impression of their unit’s medic, Marcus was willing to admit it. “I told him I’d look for a willing omega but… I don’t know.”

He froze, just for a second. “Is it really that hard, Cheese?”

“You haven’t noticed how nobody really wants to talk about status?”

“It’s crossed my mind.”

“Kinda makes it hard to get a read on whether you’d be welcome, don’t you think?”

Marcus smiled. “I guess so. Just got a little easier though.”

A fork full of potato stalled on the way to Cheese’s mouth. “Are—are you serious?”

“That I’m willing, yeah. I mean… I trust you so… yeah.”

“I didn’t think you were…”

“Does that change anything?” Marcus felt the tension pull at his shoulders. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all. He didn’t think Cheese would be one of those alphas that couldn’t believe an omega capable of anything but feeding babies and getting fucked but he’d been wrong before.

Cheese’s eyes went wide. “Fuck, no. No! I just… I don’t know, I thought maybe it should have come up by now.”

“Well I didn’t know you were an alpha til a couple seconds ago so I guess we’re even.”

“You really want to do this?”

“If I have to, I’d rather you than some random ass safe alpha.”

“Jesus, Marcus, thanks. You really know how to sweet talk a guy.”

“You want moonlight and roses?”

“No.” The fork full of potato finally got to his mouth and he chewed thoughtfully. “Okay. If you want to do this, I guess we can help each other out.”

“You’re a good friend, Cheese.”

“Yeah, tell me that again after I fuck your brains out.”

Marcus laughed. “You can try.”

~*~*~*~

The first night wasn’t so bad, Marcus told himself. They’d spent the day making sure there was food, water and everything else they’d need for the weekend in the apartment. The building was owned by the army and used for this kind of thing all the time. Cheese had cracked a joke about paying by the hour when they settled in but Marcus hadn’t exactly been in the mood for jokes.

“You okay?”

“Yeah.” He put down the last slice of pizza and rubbed a hand over his face. “It’s just… well… I thought we’d get enough time to get comfortable but…” He rolled his shoulders and tried to pass it off as a shrug. He could already feel the warmth creeping over his skin and if he was already half hard and more than a little wet, well… nature was clearly taking its course.

“Well, that’s what we’re here for. Look, Marcus if you changed your mind or you aren’t cool with this then—“

“No… no, it’s not that.” And it wasn’t. Marcus knew that. He couldn’t think of anybody else he’d want there, which said all kinds of things he wasn’t ready to look too hard at. “I just wanted the weird awkward shit out of the way before the hormones kicked in, you know?”

“Yeah… in a perfect world, right?” Cheese smiled and shifted a little closer. “Look, if you want out, tell me, okay? We’ll work something else out or… I don’t know—“

“Cheese, stop it. I want you here, okay?”

“Okay.” He nodded slowly and seemed to be covering up a small sniff in Marcus’ direction. “Cuz, I’m not going to lie to you. You smell really good right now.”

He laughed. He couldn’t help it but it had the desired effect and the small sound cut the tension between them. Marcus sighed and took a deep breath; the scent of alpha filling his senses until he groaned against his will. “Yeah, you too.” He took another deep breath in an attempt to control the instinct to wrap himself around Phil. The deep breath, he decided a moment later, had been a mistake and his control was starting to slip. “I really need to kiss you right now…”

“What’s stopping you?”

“You not making a move.”

“If I move right now, I might jeopardize our friendship.”

“Cheese…” Marcus bit back a groan and let his head loll back against the couch. “Fuck, Phil, don’t be an asshole about this, okay?”

“Come here.” There was a tone in Phil’s voice he was pretty sure he’d never heard before. It wasn’t some harsh, alpha command bullshit. It was fondly exasperated, even as he did exactly that, curling up against him, straddling his lap. He should have felt vulnerable, exposed but this was his best friend and despite the way they teased each other and occasionally very vocally disagreed, he knew he could just do what they came there to do and not worry about him pulling some alpha bullshit with him later. “Better?”

“Yeah.”

“You know…” He started slowly, as if he wasn’t sure what Marcus was going to say to whatever he was thinking at that moment. “We could just… do this? If that would be easier on you…”

Marcus laughed. He couldn’t help himself. “You wanna do the whole cuddle heat thing? Like we’re teenagers? Come on, Cheese, cut the blushing virgin bullshit.”

If he didn’t know better, that breathless moan that left Cheese at that moment might have started his brain down a million different paths, but all it said to Marcus in that moment was that they were on the same page and needed to get moving. Now. “Figured you wouldn’t be into that idea.”

“Stop trying to give me outs.”

“Okay.” In a move that he was pretty sure he taught Phil, he found himself on his back on the couch with his legs wrapped around Phil’s hips and their lips pressed hard together. Marcus wasn’t too proud of the needy little groan that left him as Phil’s hips ground against his. “Bedroom.”

“Yeah… yeah, right.” For half a second Marcus thought maybe Phil was going to try to carry him there. That would have been the height of alpha dumb but just a second of consideration made him kind of wish he could have pulled it off. As it was, they practically raced there, clothes left in a trail behind them, only stopping to kiss and touch because, oh fuck did that feel better than not touching and that was only the preview! Phil pulled him close as they got into the bedroom. “How do you want to do this?”

Marcus blinked at him for a minute, trying to think through the heat haze that was taking over far too quickly—yes it’d been a while since he’d let himself have a full heat but still!—his mouth seemed to wake up before his brain did. “I want your knot so deep in me I can fucking taste it.”

Phil—he wasn’t sure when he went to being Phil instead of Cheese, but the switch seemed okay at the moment—smiled and pushed him down on the bed. Usually he hated that macho alpha crap even in a heat but the thought of Phil holding him down and just fucking the hell out of him was sounding better and better. “Not really what I meant but okay. We can be all traditional the first time out.”

“Just fuck me already.”

“Pushy.”

“Surprised?”

“Not even a little bit.”

Marcus had a smart ass comment about that. He’d swear until the day he died that he did. But as he rolled over and Phil tugged on his hips, teasing his hole with the head of his cock, any thought past ‘Yes’ ‘more’ and ‘fucking now!’ left him. It was a heat, not a first date, after all. “Just fuck me!”

“Yes, sir.” He had the audacity to let out a breathless chuckle and Marcus swore he’d call him on that shit when this was all over. Later. After. Because in that moment, the feeling of Phil’s cock slowly working its way into him was too good to try to break the mood. “Jesus fucking Christ…”

“Yeah… fuck….” That was the last coherent bit of conversation Marcus could remember. After that, it became nothing but half uttered filthy compliments—‘so fucking tight’, ‘so fucking deep’—until he started to feel Phil’s knot catching. Instinct told him to tighten up, to keep that feeling, to keep him in and he knew he wasn’t exactly in the right state of mind to argue with instinct.

The strangled, broken sound that got out of Phil was worth it so he did it again. “Jesus, Marcus… fuck, if you keep doing that…”

“That’s the point, Cheese.”

“I know but… fuck!” Phil’s grip on his hips tightened. “Feels so fucking good!”

“Come in me.” It wasn’t begging. Marcus Johnson did not beg no matter how far into his heat he got. No, it was a demand. “Fuck Cheese! Come on!”

He wasn’t doing much more than rocking his hips back and forth, his knot almost entirely formed and tying them together but the few slow movements were enough to set Marcus off. He arched up, muscles pulling tight and locking him around Phil’s knot, desperately milking him for what Marcus’s body needed to keep the heat at bay for a couple hours anyway. A few breathed curses later, the tips of Phil’s fingers dug into his hips and he came hard. They both collapsed forward, Phil, draped over Marcus’s back for a moment before he turned them onto their sides to wait out the knot. “Damn.”

“I’ll say.” Marcus chuckled softly until the vague memory of Phil’s own chuckle filtered back into his mind. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to laugh at an omega in heat?”

“It’s a bad habit, I know. But it’s a laugh of affection.”

“Sure it is.” Marcus couldn’t quite stop the sound that left him when Phil nuzzled the back of his neck.

“So… three more days?”

“Four tops.” Marcus turned his head a little. “Getting tired of me already?” He smirked.

“Don’t make me smack your ass.” He could feel Phil smirk against his shoulder.

Marcus chuckled a little. “Nah. You don’t get to do that til day 2.”

Phil nipped at his shoulder gently and at a safe distance from the spot on Marcus’ neck that would mean much, much more than just helping each other out. He sighed in a much too self-satisfied way for Marcus’ liking. “Duly noted.”

“You’re looking forward to day 2 now, aren’t you?”

“Hell yes.”

~*~*~*~

He only half registered the conversation in medical. Honestly, he should have caught more of it but he was in the middle of fighting off what was a very suspicious warmth under his skin. That combined with the terror that seemed to have everybody by the throat was making it hard to concentrate.

“Soldiers deal with fear all the time! The suppressants were balanced to handle that!”

“This is different! I don’t know if it’s just the levels of the hormones or—“

Marcus stopped listening. This was about to go from worse to complete fucking disaster. He had faith in the men that they could control themselves until help came but the thing was, this was hitting all over the place. Reports were coming in from damn near everywhere. It didn’t look like there was any help to come.

And it wasn’t just the heat that was coming on strong. All his instincts seemed to have kicked into overdrive. What was functioning in the logical part of his brain was telling him to get outside, get through the fighting and calm people down. Separate them if necessary. Keep people safe. That instinct he could use.

The other part of him was screaming to go outside, get through the fighting and find Phil. Keep him safe. Pull him into the nearest dark corner and… Marcus groaned. He wouldn’t deny—to himself at least—that it wasn’t the first time those bonding instincts had kicked in, but never so strong that he wanted to abandon the rest of the unit just to watch Phil’s back. And never really outside of a heat. Granted, that was what this Fear bullshit was starting to feel like. But they’d never really talked about it past a simple ‘maybe we should avoid anything around the neck area just in case’ and part of him had regretted that in ways he hadn’t really felt ready to deal with yet. And if the time to deal with it hadn’t come in the last three years, well it was probably not going to come at all.

But in that moment, with the Fear in full swing and the base going to hell in a hand basket with no help in sight he didn’t want to push it all back. If there was a time to use those instincts, it was at the end of the fucking world. And something in his brain growled at the idea of letting Phil fight this battle on his own; at not being at his side, especially if this was the last stand. 

A real, out loud growl echoed in the space around him as his back hit the wall a second later. He pulled his arm back, nearly letting the punch fly before he saw who had grabbed him. He only had a moment to register that information before Phil’s lips connected with his. He pulled back with an audible gulp of air. “Trying to take the edge off?”

“Yeah.” Phil nuzzled against his neck. “It’s not working.”

“It’s making it worse.” Marcus pulled him closer for another deep kiss. He nearly growled himself when he pulled back again. “Fuck me!” It was more an exasperated expletive than an invitation but he still found himself reaching for the nearest door handle and stumbling into the thankfully vacant office. 

The edge in Phil’s voice wasn’t something he heard often. “Don’t tease, okay? Now is not the time to say that if you don’t mean it.”

“You think I don’t mean it?”

“I think you think you do.”

“Cheese…” Marcus grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and pulled him closer, backing them up against the desk in the corner and wrapping one leg around him. Sure, it had started as a vent for all the excess of emotion but he knew what he wanted and what he meant and there really hadn’t been a time when he’d actually turn down sex with Phil. “Fuck me.”

He couldn’t stop the moan as Phil’s nose brushed his neck again. He wasn’t usually so attentive to that particular spot. And with good reason. They’d both figured out that the urge to bond was something that both of them had in excess… at least with each other. Marcus was honest with himself when he admitted it was the first time that urge had been really hard to fight off but that just meant he trusted his friend and accidental bonding was not something either of them wanted to deal with. That was what he told himself again as Phil’s tongue darted out and touched his skin. 

“Cheese…” he damn near keened as Phil sucked softly on that spot on his neck again. He felt the brush of teeth and nearly squirmed. “Phil!” That got the other man’s attention and he pulled back just far enough to look him in the eye. “Playing with fire…”

“Right… yeah…” Marcus couldn’t help but follow the progress of the tip of Phil’s tongue as he licked his lips. “Sorry… It’s the drugs or hormones or… whatever, right?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe…” He took a deep shaky breath, not stepping back far enough to lose contact. “Maybe it’s the Fear, right? Making things hard to think through…”

“Phil…” Marcus tried to find the right words. He should have just pulled away probably. But they usually didn’t talk about this. They didn’t talk about bonds and connections and what they really wanted out of anything. They didn’t talk about kids and family and what would happen when they got home. And suddenly the fear he was feeling wasn’t that they’d die in the fight or he wouldn’t be able to have Phil’s back in it all. It was what would happen when and if they went home and Phil found some docile little omega… “Yeah, it’s the Fear. Making things… sharper.”

“Things that are still there though.”

“Are they?”

“I thought you knew that.”

“I…” Marcus searched for some other explanation before finally giving in and accepting that he didn’t want to die without admitting to this. Phil was being honest, he could do the same. “Yeah. Yeah, I know. Me too.”

“I don’t want to lose you.” Phil swallowed hard but their eyes were locked. “I… I’m scared I’m going to. Either here or because we’re not a real thing…”

“I think it got real awhile back, Phil.”

“You didn’t say anything.”

Marcus smiled, just a little. “You’re the alpha.”

Phil laughed. It was still tight, still a little too scared to be a happy sound. “I want you. I want us. I… if you want to go home and have a bunch of kids or if you want to keep doing this; I don’t care. I just want us.”

Marcus leaned into his, nuzzling his neck softly. He wouldn’t have to leave a mark to complete the bond but he liked the idea of doing it anyway. Even if it wasn’t at the same time or if it was days down the line, after they’d recovered. He didn’t particularly mind either way. “You got me. It’s us. I just thought—“ He shook his head. “I thought you’d go home and find some pretty little omega and do all that shit with them.”

“No. Just you.” There was an edge to his voice again and Marcus felt himself react in predictable ways to it. “You sure you want to do this?” The words were spoken into his skin, just over the spot Phil would have to bite to make this whole thing official. “I want to know where you are… and if we’re not getting any reinforcements…”

“You heard that too?”

“Yeah.”

“One last run, huh?”

“Together.”

“Yeah.” Marcus tilted his head a little, giving Phil better access. “I want you with me if this is how we’re going out.” He groaned as Phil’s teeth touched his skin. “Fuck, Cheese, just do it!”

He registered the hand rubbing him through his pants as Phil kept mouthing and licking his neck. “Such a fucking romantic.”

Before he could snark back, Phil bit him. He nearly howled at the sudden mix of pain, pleasure and the bright flash that came with a strong connection settling into place. He felt the vibrations of Phil’s groan against his neck a second later through the slow laps of his tongue. “Fuck…”

“Think we’ve got time for that?”

As if it were an answer to the question, something nearby blew up. Marcus sighed, feeling the disappointment that wasn’t just his own flood his mind. That was going to take some getting used to and he could only hope they’d have time to do just that. “Later. You can fuck me senseless later.”

“Gonna hold you to that.”

“You fucking better.”

~*~*~*~

He hadn’t meant for things to happen the way they did. He hadn’t meant for it to take damn near a week for them to get some quiet time together after the bond. He hadn’t planned on going back to the States because during the Fear, his mom’s house got hit. He hadn’t planned on being attacked by mercenaries and super villains and he hadn’t wanted to involve Phil in any of it. But as things were, they were together. Smack in the middle of a huge ass mess but together.

“How’d you find me?”

“How do you think?” Even bloody, missing an eye and nearly literally dead on his feet and given all the revelations in the last day and a half, he smiled. Because Cheese—his stupid fucking alpha—came riding to the rescue with the fucking Avengers in tow. He should have known. “Think I’ll get that quiet night to ourselves you promised any time soon?”

“You can have two after all this.”

“Gonna hold you to that.”

Marcus let out a laugh, reloading and firing on several more of Orion’s henchmen as they tried to move in on the two of them. “Because you did such a good job of that the last time.”

“Can we argue later? I’m in the middle of a fight right now.”

“Sure.”

That was the last clear memory of conversation he had. Though he made it through the fight, adrenaline was only going to get him so far and he passed out on the way to the med unit or hospital or whatever the fuck his father—who he would be having a good long chat with at some point for all of this shit—was sending him.

Either way, Marcus figured he had earned a little rest.

~*~*~*~

Phil nearly growled as the hospital room door opened. He’d had enough of a fight trying to get in as it was. He didn’t give a shit if official visiting hours were over. He wasn’t leaving Marcus’ side. Not again.

“You should have that shiner looked at.”

Phil looked up to see the face of a legend, and the father of his omega staring down at him. “Thank you, sir. Not necessary.”

“You are one stubborn son of a bitch, Coulson.” 

“Yes, sir.”

“I can see why he keeps you around.” Fury’s eye dropped to where Phil hand his fingers laced in with Marcus’. “Rangers lead the way, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is that all I’m going to get out of you?”

“Probably. It’s been a long week.”

“Medical said the bond is new. Real new.”

“About five days.”

“So mid-fight. Smack in the middle of that Asgardian horse shit.” His eye narrowed a little. “Thought you were gonna die, right?”

“Something like that.”

“But you didn’t.”

“What exactly are you dancing around?” He hesitated just long enough for Fury’s eyebrow to creep up. “Sir.”

“You sticking with this, kid?”

“Three years ago, we started helping each other out when medical needed us off the suppressants. He was my best friend before that but after… we just never really talked about it because we knew where we’d end up if we did. But we’re here now.” He dragged his gaze away from Marcus and looked back up at Fury. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good. That’s good.” A little tension left the man but it didn’t make much difference. “SHIELD’s going to offer you a job. Both of you, if he’s planning on staying in the game.”

“Can’t imagine him quitting now.”

“That’s what I told them. Here.” He handed Phil a file. “That’s all the information he’ll ask for. About me. About his mom. It’s all there. Including his original birth certificate.” 

Phil’s brow crinkled a little as he opened it up and looked at the aged piece of paper. He couldn’t quite stop the small smirk that crossed his face at the name on it. _Nicholas Joseph Fury Jr._ “Oh he’s going to love that.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

A soft groan preceded Marcus’ voice. “’s not that bad.”

Phil’s attention focused in on his omega. “You’re awake.”

“You wanna call it that.” Marcus’ one remaining eye seemed to be having trouble focusing, or he thought the man standing at the foot of the bed might be a hallucination. Even if he was, Marcus—or Nick, whichever he picked, Phil would back it up—decided it was worth a shot to talk to him. “Think you owe me a couple explanations…”

“More than a couple. It can wait til you’re not high as a kite.”

“Might have a point there…” Marcus took a deep breath and his eye closed even as he weakly squeezed Phil’s hand. “Still here?”

“Thought we figured out that you weren’t getting rid of me.”

“Didn’t really have time to talk about it.”

“Still haven’t let me fuck you senseless yet either.” That got a small, soft laugh. “We’ve got time.” Phil lifted the hand in his and pressed a soft kiss to the back of it. “And apparently some job options.”

“Yeah?”

Fury nodded and the movement pulled both of their attention to the end of the bed again. “SHIELD will probably want to take a look at you after all this.”

“What’s the parental leave look like?” Marcus sounded a little sharper with that question and Phil couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought of why he was asking that.

Fury’s eyebrow shot up again. “I’ll send you a package.”

“Mm. Sounds good.” The words slurred together and by the end of it, Phil was pretty sure he’d fallen back asleep.

He smiled warmly and pressed another kiss to Marcus’ hand before speaking again. “I don’t think he’s really listening anymore.”

“Probably for the best. I’ll get somebody to send you the offers ASAP.” Fury--or Fury Sr. he guessed, given the intel he was holding--nodded once and turned to leave. He looked long and hard at the man in the bed before something that might have been his version of a sad smile crossed his face. “Rangers lead the way…”

“Yes, sir.”

“You tell him when he wakes up for real that he’ll hear from me one way or another when you’re both settled in again.”

“I will.”

“You take good care of him. Don’t fuck it up.”

“I have absolutely no intention of fucking it up, sir.”

“Good. That’s good. He deserves somebody good like that.”

Phil was pretty sure that was as close to parental approval as he’d ever get. “Thank you, sir.” Fury was gone before he got the sir out that time, leaving Phil to focus on Marcus completely. “Don’t tell anyone I said this, but your dad’s fucking terrifying.”

That got a smile and a small, sleepy laugh.

“Yeah, I knew you were faking.”

“Y’know you haven’t said it yet…”

“You know you’re still high as a fucking kite.”

His smile turned slowly into a grin. “Then you’ll have to say it again later.”

“You haven’t said it yet either.”

“’m high as a fucking kite, now’s not the time.” That one gorgeous eye opened up again for a second and Phil fought back to urge to find someone to blame for the loss of the other that wasn’t already dead. “You’re sober, you start.”

“Stubborn bastard.” Phil shook his head and leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. The words were true, of course. He’d known how he felt for a long time but given their arrangement it wasn’t something he was going to come out and say. And yeah, maybe the Fear pushed them into this, maybe the idea of losing Marcus was at the forefront of his mind for the last week and a half at least but it wasn’t a new fear and it wasn’t some made up thing that came out of nowhere. It was real. They both knew it too otherwise the bond never would have stuck and it sure as hell wouldn’t have been strong enough for Phil to track Marcus through it. “You really want to hear it now?”

“Yeah.”

Phil kissed him again, softly letting the words out against his lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Marcus smiled into the next kiss. “Even if you try to get me all barefoot and pregnant.”

“Yeah, that’s the type of alpha I am. Stupid, macho bullshit all over the place. That’s me.” Phil chuckled and shook his head. “Get some rest, okay?”

“Okay.”

He watched as, this time, Marcus slowly relaxed against the mattress and drifted off, or nearly did. “Cheese?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m gonna tell you that a lot, you know?”

“Tell me what?”

“That I love you.”

Phil smiled. “Okay, boss. You can tell me that as much as you want.”

“Because I do.”

“I know.”

~*~*~*~*~

SHIELD was bullshit. That was the thought running through Nick’s head—because it was Nick now. The only person that ever tried to call him Marcus was Phil and that was rare—as he raced over the rooftop after the stupid son of a bitch that was trying to sell heat inducers to HYDRA. They’d stopped the sale but there was no way in hell Nick was going to let this asshole get away.

Oh, sure. He could have been at home, filling out paperwork, playing with his baby girl, but no. No, this fucker had to make a mess of things and needed chasing down.

There were days Nick hated his job. There were days when the ‘why don’t you just stay home? Don’t you have a baby!’ arguments started making sense. There were days when he would give anything to just be content with a desk job or being one of those nice little omegas that stayed home with a house full of kids and occasionally coached soccer. But even on those days he knew he could never completely give it up.

“Base, he’s coming down the fire escape!”

_“We’ve got your location. There’s a team on the ground.”_

“Good.”

_“And you’ve got a call.”_

“A what now?”

A second later, as he stopped running and heard the ground crew pinning the dealer to the asphalt, a very familiar little gurgle filled his ear. _“Somebody wanted to say goodnight.”_ Phil’s laugh followed another rush of their baby girl’s giggles. _“I told comm. not to cut in if you didn’t have the time.”_

Nick laughed and shook his head. “Nah, I’m just finishing up here. A quick report and I’ll be there. Tell Nia to behave herself and I’ll be home soon to give her a kiss, okay?”

The gurgle came again and he could hear Phil softly talking to their daughter. _“I think she heard you.”_

“Good. Be home soon, babe.”

_“Love you.”_

Nick smiled and looked over the roof’s edge to where the team was dragging the dealer into one of the SHIELD issued vans. “I love you too.” A sharp, high giggle filled his head and he flat out grinned. “Both of you.”

Then there were the days when he wouldn’t trade his life for anything.


End file.
